How To Play Uno

Want to know to play Uno? Uno is a great game that is easy to teach and play, so it makes sense to learn it. Let me tell you how.

To play Uno, everyone starts with 7 cards. On a person’s turn, they can play a card that matches either the color or number of the top card in the discard pile. They can also play wilds. If they can’t or don’t, they draw a card from the draw pile. They can choose to play that card if they want. This keeps going until someone runs out of cards.

A Quick Note About This Article’s Version Of How To Play Uno

These are my interpretations of the rules, and there will be things I leave out. Not for any mean reason, but rather because I want to provide you with a quick, but still thorough resource you can use to play the wonderful game of Uno.

With that in mind, let’s get to it.

How To Play Uno

Let’s start with the setup.

Setup

To set up Uno, one player deals. There are rules for this, but honestly it’s up to you. The dealer shuffles all the Uno cards together, then deals 7 cards to each player. The rest of the deck goes facedown in the center of the table. The dealer then draws one card off the top and turns it over to start the discard pile.

What To Do On Your Turn

The person to the left of the dealer starts. On each person’s turn, they have to either match the color or number of the top card of the discard pile. So, the person before you played a blue 8, you’d either have to play an 8 or a blue card.

Your only other option is to play one of the black cards, which act as wilds. If you can’t play a card, then you have to draw a card from the facedown deck. If you can play that card, you may do so, otherwise the next player goes.

You can also choose not to play a card on your turn, but you’ll still have to draw a card. After drawing the card, if you decide you want to play, you can, but the card you play has to be the card you just drew.

How To Win

In Uno, your goal is to empty your hand of all your cards. Once you get down to your last card, say or yell, “Uno.” If the next player goes and you haven’t said, “Uno” then you have to draw 2 cards.

When you or someone else has no cards left the round is over and you score. The player who went out gets points for the cards remaining in the other players’ hands as follows:

• Number cards 0-9 – points equal to the number showing on the card
• Draw Two, Reverse, and Skip cards – 20 points per card
• Wild and Wild Draw Four cards – 50 points per card

The first player to get 500 points wins the game.

Rule Variants

Now, I don’t know about you, but I grew up playing Uno a little differently from the official rules. So, if you’re interested, here’s a different way to play the game.

First of all, the way I played didn’t have rounds. Either you won or lost and then you started over.

Second of all, you always had to play a card. Plus, if you couldn’t play a card, you had to keep drawing until you could play one, then you played that card.

Third of all, you can stack penalties. So, if someone plays a draw two card, instead of drawing two, you can also play a draw two card. This means the player after you either has to play one too or they draw four cards!

Last but not least, other players could say, “Uno” before you, in which case you draw two cards. I haven’t always played this way because timing is tricky on just when someone else is allowed to say Uno, but it’s another way to play at least.

There are more ways to play Uno than this, but these should get you started nicely. Try out one or two and see how they feel!

Did You Know?

(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)

Did you know that making board game nights work when kids are there is easy and fun? Well, if you’re interested in some tips, head on over here!

Conclusion: How To Play Uno

So, that’s how to play Uno. There’s a reason this game has had so many versions and has been around as long it has. I hope you’ll enjoy it for years to come.

Speaking of which, what are some other games you’d like to learn how to play? Why? Let us know in the comments below!

And, as always, keep on gaming, you maniacs.